A former U.S. fund manager pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in connection with his private investment fund that allegedly duped investors.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Connecticut, the head of Greenwich, Ct.-based Mara Investment Group, LLC, Justin Murphy, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering before a U.S. district court judge in New Haven.
In 2023, Murphy was charged in connection with the operation of a purported hedge fund that, according to U.S. authorities, defrauded investors by soliciting investors to invest in a fund that promised to follow a quantitative long-short strategy, but didn’t trade investors’ funds as promised, and diverted approximately US$3.5 million for other uses.
And, in a parallel civil action that was filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the time, the regulator alleged that, after misusing investor funds, Murphy attempted to conceal his fraud by providing investors with falsified account statements and tax documents that claimed to show that the fund’s trading was profitable.
Murphy, who was originally charged with 15 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering, was arrested in Brazil in 2023 and spent almost 11 months in custody there before being extradited to the U.S. to face the charges.
The court did not immediately set a date for sentencing, following the guilty plea.